A Child’s Life
by evil superman
Summary: The people of Atlantis have settled down and started families. These are the stories of the their children.
1. New Arrival

Title: A Child's Life.

Summary: The people of Atlantis have settled down and started families. This is the story of the world as seen by their children.

Paring: Sheppard/Weir, McKay/Hightmeyer, Beckett/OC, Teyla/Ford

Spoilers: Nothing really I don't think, but if there are, odds are if you blink you'll miss them.

Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis is not mine. Only the story line and any made up characters that may or may not appear in the story belong to me.

A/N: This is a companion piece of sorts to the last chapter of my story 'Darkness of the Mind' but it's not necessarily necessary that you read that story to understand this.

This won't be one continuous story, but a bunch of different one shots. So the chapters won't always flow together one right after the other. They probably won't be chronological either, but instead jump all over to different times in the children's lives.

Also odds are this story won't be updated regularlylike most of my previous stories.

* * *

Ch1 Summary: Xander has a little talk with the newest arrival in Atlantis. 

Four-year-old Xander Sheppard, after checking over his shoulder to make sure no one was around to squeal on him – like his sister Casey – quietly crept into the new babies room. Making his way over to the crib Xander peered through the bars looking at the baby girl that was just lying there.

"So you're this Carrie kid every ones talkin' about?" Xander spoke softly.

The newborn just gurgled in response. Carrie Beckett was only a week old so Xander cut her some slack on her lack of conversational skills.

"Seein' as how you're new around here I figured it would be a good idea to fill you in on how things work around here." Xander continued. "Plus were cousins, at least that's what the grown ups say, and family looks out for family, right?"

Carrie's wide eyes followed Xander almost as if she knew she was being spoken to.

"First off my names Xander Sheppard, I'm the guy in charge around here, remember that. Most of the time if you ever need anything you come to me, unless its smarts that you need then you want to go to Duke McKay, he's the brains around here, even if he is too smart for his own good just like his old man, at least that's what dad says; my dad not yours, your dads Uncle Carson. And if by some weird chance Duke doesn't know the answer ask Uncle Rodney, he's Dukes dad. Sometimes my dad and Uncle Aiden call Uncle Rodney a geek, don't worry if you don't know what a geek is cause to be honest neither do I."

Xander started pacing around the crib and Carrie still followed him with her eyes.

"And if you ever wanna play and have fun, when you get bigger and the grown ups stop acting like you're gonna break any second go to Aria she's Duke's older sister, but only by about a year, she knows all the fun games and places to play them. Also if you ever need someone to help get you out of trouble go to Casey, she's my twin sister, every body says she can talk anyone into anything, just like mom; my mom not yours, yours is Aunt Valerie."

Carrie made a funny cooing sound and started making spit bubbles when Xander paused for a second to think about what else he needed to say.

"Oh and if it's laughs you want go to Uncle Aiden, he's always doing silly things like making funny faces just to get you to laugh. If you ever wanna learn cool things like fighting ask Aunt Teyla, she's the best for those kinds of things, but it'll probably be a while before she'll teach you any fighting moves you have to wait 'til your older at least that's what she tells me."

Looking to see if Carrie was getting any of the things he told her Xander noticed that she'd turned her head away from him.

"Hey I'm talkin' to you Pipsqueak. I'm not telling you all this stuff just cause I like to hear myself talk, so pay attention." Xander gently poked the baby's arm through the crib's bars.

After Carrie was once again looking at him, Xander continued.

"Ok now where was I? ….Oh yeah if it's cool stories you want go to either my mom, Aunt Liz to you, or My dad, Uncle John to you as well, they have all kinds of stories to tell. Whenever I ask where they get their stories they all ways say they heard them on earth, that's all of ours home world, though I've never been there just heard stories. And if you ever need to talk to someone or just someone to listen go to Aunt Kate, that's Duke and Aria's mom, she's a psy…psychol… well it doesn't matter what she is, just know that she'll listen any time you want to talk.

But any way enough with the people. When you get bigger you won't have to worry too much about getting bored, there's a whole city full of adventure to explore, the only bad thing is that since we live in the middle of an ocean there's really not any where to go out side to run around and play, unless one of the grown ups can take you to the mainland, but sometimes they're too busy for that. But when you do get to the mainland it pretty fun cause there's all the Athosian kids to play with. The Athosians are Aunt Teyla's people, and sometimes I think they have all the fun, getting to camp out under the stars all the time and they can go out side when ever they want."

Pausing again Xander grabbed a near by chair and pulled it over by the crib. Climbing up on to the chair Xander began spinning the mobile that was hanging above the crib; Teyla had made it as a gift for the baby. Looking down at Carrie, Xander grinned when he saw how amazed she seemed by all of the colors.

"You're gonna be just like your dad Uh? I swear even the smallest little thing will keep Uncle Carson occupied for hours, but then again the same thing goes for Uncle Rodney too but at least the things that interest him are some what cool, especially the things that blow up on him, that's always good for a laugh.

People say I act like my dad, but to be honest I don't see it. Dads a really cool guy he has this thing in him that lets him fly the puddle jumpers and use things around Atlantis that not every body can, I think Uncle Carson has it too but I'm not sure, and me I'm just a little kid that nobody will let do any thing. Maybe it has something to do with what the grown ups call personality, whatever that is, and the fact we look somewhat a like.

Now when people say that Casey acts like mom that I can see. They both like to talk and their really good at it too. They can talk you into or out of doing just about anything with out you even realizing it until it's too late. Plus they definitely look like each other no question about it.

When it comes to figuring out which parent Aria and Duke are like that's a little trickier. Cause you see Duke even though he got his dad smarts and is what the grown ups call a trouble magnet like his dad, Duke looks more like his mom and is a lot more patient with people. And Aria looks more like her dad, but is a really good listener like her mom."

Xander stopped talking for a moment and spun the mobile again. Looking down just in time to see Carrie yawn Xander decided he should let her get some rest and finish telling her the rest later. Besides the grown ups were going to start wondering where he was.

"You better get some sleep I don't want Uncle Carson and Aunt Valerie upset with me for keeping you up." Reaching the door Xander stopped and turned around when he heard Carrie making something that almost sounded like a whine. "Hey don't worry I promise I'll be back later and tell you the rest."

Walking out the door and gently shutting it behind him Xander turned to walk down the corridor but found himself knocked on his butt when he ran into something. Looking up he saw that it was Rodney.

"Hey little man." Rodney greeted as he picked Xander up off the floor. "And just what were you doing in the baby's room?"

"Nothin' honest I was just talking that's all I swear." Xander responded as if he were guilty of doing something wrong by being in the baby's room.

"Yep just like your dad." Rodney hadn't missed the slight sound of worry that had crept into Xander's voice and there was no way anyone could have missed the slightly guilty look in Xander's eyes.

Almost any time someone caught Xander doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing or he thought he wasn't supposed to be doing and asked him about it Xander almost always answered the same way; that he was innocent. Xander reminded Rodney and everyone else for that matter of John more and more every day.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Xander folded his arms across his chest and tried to give Rodney his best 'you better answer me' glare; try being the operative word.

"You'll understand when you're older." With that Rodney continued down the corridor and Xander just stood there with a confused look on his face.


	2. Crime and Punishment

A/N: Just a quick note I forgot to put in the first chapter. I know that the pairings I have for this story may not float every body's boat but I hope you won't let that keep you from reading. This story is more about the kids than parents so chances are most of the time you won't see any kind of romance or stuff like that except for on a small occasion here or there.

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Ch2 summary: Who would have thought something so small and harmless could be so much trouble. 

"Come on, come on…where are you?" An eight year old Duke softly muttered to himself as he frantically searched his room, tossing clothes around not caring where they landed as well as moving furniture around.

Ignoring the knock on his door Duke continued his frantic search.

"Hey Dookie you in here?" Duke heard his best friend Xander call out. Even though Xander was a year older and the two were on completely different sides of the social scale – Duke was a geek, Xander was cool – they were still best friends. Had they been back on earth the odds of them being friends let alone best friends would have been zip to none, but this wasn't earth it was Atlantis and there weren't that many kids around for them to choose their friends from.

"I thought I told you to stop calling me that." Duke replied not stopping his search.

"…" Whatever Xander had been about to say was cut off when a shirt came flying at his head hitting him smack dab in the face. "Um Dookie…do I wanna know why you're ripping your room apart?" Xander peeled the shirt off his face and tossed it aside.

At hearing this Duke stopped what he was doing for a moment and finally looked at Xander for the first time since he'd come into the room.

"Again!" Xander exclaimed when he saw the Duh-do-you-even-have-to-ask look on Duke's face. "I don't believe this you let Speedy get out again. Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"Hey last time that was all your fault, if you hadn't insisted on trying to feed him and left the cage open he never would have got out." Duke jumped to his own defense.

Again before Xander could say anything he was once again cut off, this time by two very girlish screams coming from the direction of Casey's room at the end of the corridor. Giving each other Oh-Crap-We're-Screwed looks the two boys bolted from the room out into the corridor just in time to see two very unhappy and pissed looking girls – Casey and Aria- come out of Casey's room.

"Speedy!" Duke hollered when he saw Aria holding his pet mouse by the tail out in front of her. For Duke's eighth birthday Carson had given him one of his lab mice and the kid loved the thing to death. "Hey don't hold him like that you're hurting him." Duke quickly swiped the mouse away from his sister.

While Duke was busy checking Speedy over making sure the mean nasty girls hadn't hurt him, Xander looked at the two girls and could have sworn he saw smoke coming out of their ears. Hastily taking a few steps back Xander grabbed Duke's arm and pulled Duke, with him.

"Uh yeah Dookie as much as I'm feelin' for you and Speedy right now, I really think now would be a good time to RUN!" Xander turned and bolted down the corridor. Taking a second to look up at the girls Duke saw the same thing Xander had and with survival instincts kicking in took off like a bat out of hell just like Xander.

Knowing from experience that it was easier to lose the girls if they ran through crowded places the boys headed in the general direction of where most people would be that time of day, which was usually either the commissary, the gyms, the rec rooms, or the control room.

"Look out people comin' through, comin' through." "Make a hole, come on we're runnin' for our lives here." Both Duke and Xander called out as they dodged around people never stopping any longer than absolutely necessary.

After passing through the commissary, all the gyms, and the rec rooms Xander and Duke had yet to lose their sisters, leaving them with no choice but to make a break for the control room and hope they could barricade themselves inside Xander's mom's office for a while.

Sprinting up the stairs and entering the control room the boys spotted John, Elizabeth, and Rodney talking about something – probably city business – but neither stopped to make small talk, they could hear the girls catching up with them.

"This was so _not_ my fault." Duke called as he whizzed by the surprised adults.

"Yeah and I had _nothing_ to do with this I'm totally innocent!" Xander called over his shoulder as well as he passed by his parents, thinking that maybe he should probably cover his own backside.

The two boys were almost to the office – their sanctuary – when suddenly Aria appeared in front of the door.

'Crap they split up!' Both boys thought as they turned hoping to go back the way they'd come from only to find Casey standing at the top of the stairs. They were trapped. There was only one chance of survival left, making leaping dives both boys came to a skidding stop behind their parents. Duke shamelessly used his dad as a human shield, as did Xander with his mom and dad. For a few minutes there was a silent stand off before John finally broke the silence.

"Someone wanna tell me what's going on here?" John crossed his arms looking down at his son.

"They let that stupid mouse lose in my room." "I didn't do anything, I'm an innocent by stander." "That rodent tried eating my finger." "It was an accident, speedy got out all on his own." All four kids burst out talking at once making it hard for the adults to understand what was going on.

"Quiet!" John raised his voice slightly so he could be heard over the kids, who instantly stopped talking. "Thank you now one at a time what's going on?"

Not sure who should start talking first the four kids stood silently looking at each other, until Elizabeth gave Xander a slight nudge in the back signaling he should start talking.

"Hey don't look at me. I for once am completely 100 percent innocent." Xander quickly defended himself. "I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was all Dookie and Speedy this time."

"Speedy as in that mouse Carson gave you?" Rodney spoke looking at Duke, who nodded his head yes.

"Yeah but it was an accident dad I swear. I'm positive I closed his cage after feeding him this morning."

"If that's true then how did he end up in my room?" Casey demanded giving Duke her best Don't-Mess-With-Me look.

"I don't know how he got out honest. One minute he was in his cage happily eating away then I left him alone for like two seconds and when I came back he was gone."

"Yeah give the guy a break. He and Speedy have had a rough morning."

"You be quiet Mr. I'm Innocent I Swear, we all know you had something to do with this so stop playing innocent." Aria spoke up.

"Since you four can't seem to talk this out and settle it in a civilized manner I see only one way to end this." Elizabeth stated before the kids could get into a full-blown argument.

"Not 'The Corner'!" The kids let out a collective groan when they saw semi serious semi amused look on Elizabeth's face.

"Yes that sounds like an idea to me." "Only option I can see." Rodney and John agreed with Elizabeth. The kids let out another groan when it became obvious they weren't going to get any help from their dads.

'The Corner' was probably the worst torture any kid could go through. When ever one of the kids did something wrong or couldn't settle an argument peacefully they were sent to either a corner in Elizabeth's office, Rodney's lab or in the infirmary – basically wherever the adults thought they'd be most bored and have the least distractions – the kid(s) then had to stand there staring at the wall thinking about what they'd done wrong.

They were not allowed to talk, turn around, or do anything but stand there staring at the wall, until such a time that they could tell the adult who'd put them there what they'd done wrong, why they did it, and why it was wrong or in case of an argument that they couldn't settle peacefully all parties involved had to stay there until everyone decided that they could settle the disagreement in a civilized way.

"Dookie your head is so going in the toilet when this is over." Hearing Xander's whispered threat made the adults grin slightly as they herded the four kids into Elizabeth's office after confiscating anything the kids had, had on their person that the adults thought the kids could entertain themselves with.


	3. Titanic Babysitting

A/N: After banging your head against that brick wall known to many as writer's block, it's amazing the kind of inspiration you can get when forced to babysit little demon children from hell.

Warning: There's some language in this chapter but I don't think it's too bad.

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Ch. Summary: The older kids are on babysitting duty. 

"Dookie slow down already and tell us what the hell is going on!" Aria demanded her little brother. Aria and Casey had been in the middle of a typical 15 year old girls gossip session when Duke, dragging a confused and peeved looking Xander behind him, busted into her room ranting and raving about…well she wasn't sure what he was going off about, because he was talking a mile a minute.

Completely ignoring his sister Duke continued pacing around the room talking frantically until Xander finally had enough and grabbed him by the shoulders forcibly stopping him.

"Damnit! Man just spit it out already." Xander was a _little_ upset with Duke for pulling him away from the movie he'd been watching. Xander had been waiting for over a month for the movie to be delivered along with the other supplies that arrived from earth every other month. It had finally arrived the night before and Xander had been ecstatic that he was finally going to get to watch it, but no Duke had, had to come along and drag him away.

"AR-1's shipping out on a mission today." That was the first intelligible thing Duke had said since bursting into the room.

"That's it that's what has you so riled up?" Casey stared at Duke in disbelief as did the other two. "They're always going out on missions, that's nothing new."

"No you don't understand. All of AR-1 is going and Uncle Carson and Aunt Liz are going to the mainland at the same time and my mom and Aunt Valerie are working all day which means-."

"Babysitting duty!" The three other occupants in the room groaned out at the same time cutting Duke off.

Babysitting wasn't exactly anything new to the four kids; they'd babysat Carrie and Jessie Beckett as well as Marshall and Danik Ford lots of times before, just rarely all four at the same time. It was usually just one or two of them at a time. Individually they weren't really all that bad but get them into groups of two or more and they suddenly turned into little holy terrors. How such decent people had wound up with such little hellions for kids was anyone's guess.

"Wait, wait, wait…let's not get a head of ourselves here." Xander spoke up. "Maybe it won't be so bad this time. Carrie's eleven and Marshall's eight so they should be pretty well able to look out for and entertain themselves right? So really all we'd have to do is keep an eye on Jessie and Danik, how hard could that be? I mean Jessie's what six and Danik's four, we should be able to handle that right?"

The others just stared at Xander wearing equal looks of doubt, but knowing they didn't really have a choice in the matter gladly held onto any hope they could grasp. It was decided that Duke would cover Danik, Casey would cover Jessie, Aria would cover Marshall, and Xander would cover Carrie.

* * *

It was four hours into their babysitting duty and things had started out pretty well, Carrie and Marshall had been more than willing to go off to some corner or another and do their own thing and Jessie and Danik had been content with playing whatever game the older kids had come up with for them to play. Then naptime had come and all hell broke lose it seemed. 

After a tantrum –at least seven on the tantrum scale – and some bribery – stories, candy, and those kinds of things – Casey was able to finally get Jessie to at least settle down and rest, it may not have been a nap per-say but Casey would take what she could get.

Danik on the other hand was a whole other story. No matter what Duke tried he couldn't get Danik to corporate with him. Duke had, had Danik cornered at one point, but some how the kid had managed to elude Duke and make a mad dash out the door with Duke hot on his tail. That had been the last anyone had seen of the two for the last hour.

Getting a little worried that they hadn't heard from Duke and Danik it was decided that Xander and Aria should go out looking for him while Casey kept an eye on their three remaining charges. Reaching the end of the corridor Aria and Xander jumped slightly when seemingly out of nowhere Duke appeared around the corner.

The two older kids nearly burst out laughing when they saw Duke. He was wearing one of those vests the off world teams always wear and had a make shift tail of what looked like bungee cords – lots of bungee cords – securely attached to the back with an abundance of duck tape. The only thing that kept the kids from laughing was the fact that at the end of Duke's tail was a duck tape covered Danik.

Since a vest like Duke was wearing would obviously have been too big for Danik, Duke had swiped one of the smaller life jackets the adults made the younger kids wear every time they went to the mainland to play on the beach and in the ocean, and put Danik it that. The end of the bungee cord tail was secured to the back of the life jacket with yet more duck tape and duck tape had been wrapped all the way around the life jacket to keep Danik from trying to undo the buckles holding the life jacket closed. Between the two of them they had to be covered in at least four of five rolls of duck tape.

With a determined stride Duke walked up to the stunned looking Xander and Aria, stopping only long enough to give the bungee cords a good tug, making sure Danik made it the rest of the way around the corner with out hitting the wall.

"I am a genius. And as such I will not be out done by any little snot nosed four year old who thinks otherwise." Duke stated as he passed the two teens, continuing into the room the two teens had just exited dragging Danik behind him.

* * *

Entering into hour number six things had started to settle back down. Duke – still securely fastened to his leash – and Jessie were off to one side of the room content with playing whatever little games their minds could come up with and forcing their babysitters to play along. And not having heard a peep out of Carrie or Marshall for a while, Aria had dragged Xander to the other side of the room deciding – much to Xander's annoyance – that it was as good a time as any to get started on their homework. 

"Don't you two think you should find out where Marshall and Carrie ran off to and check on them?" Casey spoke up after a while, getting an easy feeling at not having heard from the two kids for a while.

"You know she's probably right." Aria spoke looking at Xander. "I mean you do remember what happened the last time those two were left to their own devices for too long?"

"Ah yes the Easy Bake Oven incident. How could anyone forget?" Xander responded. "Who would have thought something like an Easy Bake Oven could cause such mass destruction?"

For Carrie's last birthday someone had gotten her an Easy Bake Oven and with in days she and Marshall had some how managed to blow it up along with a large chunk of the rec room they'd been in. To this day nobody was really able to figure out how they'd managed that and it would probably remain a mystery forever.

* * *

"Do you really think this will work?" Marshall questioned as he and Carrie stood in the deserted commissary. 

"Of course it will." Carrie replied after a moment of thinking. "I mean it worked for my dad and Uncle Rodney when they did it to prank your dad and Uncle John."

With out another word the girl quickly disappeared into the kitchen, returning shortly with some bottles of liquid detergent. Handing a bottle to Marshall the two quickly emptied the bottles into the buckets of warm water at their feet. Once that was done they dropped the pieces of dry ice they'd carefully swiped from the big freezer in the back of the kitchen – the one the kids were _supposed_ to stay away from for their own safety – and watched as bubbles quickly began to fill the room. Once the room was sufficiently covered in bubbles the two friends immediately dived in, having fun.

* * *

Having looked everywhere else they could think of Xander and Aria, trailed by Duke and Danik since they had nothing better to do with Casey and Jessie having decided to go for a walk around the city, headed towards the commissary hoping their two wayward charges would be there. Nearing the room the group became aware of loud laughing and shouting coming from their intended destination. Quickening their pace they entered the room and stopped short. 

"What the fu—" Xander never finished his sentence as he took a step into the room only to wind up slipping on the extremely slippery floor, headed straight towards the fold up tables that had been stacked against the far wall.

"Xander watch out for—" 'CRASH' "—the tables." Aria tried to warn Xander.

"Ah shit…" Xander moaned as he carefully rubbed the back of his head.

"You all right?" Aria cautiously made her way over to where Xander laid in a pile of bubbles at the base of the tables.

"Just leave me to die in peace." As Xander spoke a clump of bubbles landed on his face causing him to frantically swipe at his face trying to get the offending bubbles off. This of course caused Aria to fall over laughing.

Getting an evil smirk on his face Xander scoop up a large hand full of bubbles and proceeded to stuff it down the back of Aria's shirt. Quickly wiping around Aria was about to whack Xander only to have a light bulb go off in her head.

"You know Xander I think you would make the perfect Santa Claus." Aria stated as she grabbed a handful of bubbles.

"Oh no you don't. Don't you even think about it." Xander attempted, unsuccessfully, to right him self. "You're a complete psycho."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Aria continued to advance towards Xander. "Hey pipsqueak, half-pint get over here and hold him down." Aria motioned Carrie and Marshall over.

"Oh hells no get away from me you little hellions." Xander shouted as the two younger kids doggie piled him. "Wait you know I think Dookie over there would be a much better Santa." Xander attempted a last ditch effort.

"No way I'm not getting dragged into this." Duke protested. Quickly pulling his vest off Duke secured it – so that Danik couldn't run off again – around the leg of one of the few tables that hadn't been folded up and set aside – just incase any stragglers like the scientist that kept odd hours came looking for food – getting ready to bolt if he had to.

"Come on the Santa job would be perfect for you."

"I'll show you Santa." Duke growled as he leapt fully into the room, sliding at top speed towards the downed older boy.

"Incoming!" Aria hollered as she dove off to one side, Carrie and Marshall doing the same.

"Ah! Help insane genius on the lose!" Xander yelped as Duke barreled into him, bubbles spraying everywhere. Before long the two boys were rolling around on the floor trying to cover the other in bubbles.

"Fight, fight, fight, fight." Became a steady chant from Marshall.

"In the eyes!" Carrie added in. "Put in the eyes!"

While all this was going on Aria just sat back enjoying the entertainment, maybe babysitting wasn't such a bad thing after all.

* * *

Kate, heading in the direction of the commissary, knew it was well past lunch time and still a little too early for dinner, still hoped there was something in the kitchen she could snack on. She'd been so busy with work all day that she'd worked right through lunch and was now starving. 

"Aunt Kate?" Kate about to step onto the transporter stopped when she heard small voice and felt a hesitant pull on her shirt. Looking down she spotted Jessie.

"Jessie?"

"I think I'm lost." Jessie had a shy smile on her face.

"Lost huh?" Kate playfully frowned, rubbing her chin with slender fingers as she regarded the little girl. "And just how did that happen?"

"Casey lost me." A familiar mischievous look filtered across Jessie's face.

"_She_ lost you huh?" Kate smiled knowingly as she crouched down to be at eye level with Jessie. "Between the two of us, she didn't really loose you did she?"

An impish grin appeared on Jessie's face and she shook her head no.

"That's what I thought." Kate laughed. "So seeing as how you're lost, what do you say you hang with me for a bit, just 'til we find Casey?"

"Sure!"

"Kate, wait up!" once again stopping, Kate looked over her shoulder seeing Valerie jogging down the corridor to catch up with her.

"Mom!" Jessie let go of Kate's hand and latched onto her mom's leg.

"Hey sweetie." Valerie greeted a hint of confusion in her voice. "What are you doing with Aunt Kate, I thought you were supposed to be with Casey and the others?"

"Apparently Casey lost here." Kate answered a bit sarcastically.

"She did, did she?" Looking down at her daughter, Valerie got the same knowing smile on her face that Kate had, had when Jessie had told her the same thing.

"Yes she did. But that's ok cause know I get to go to the commissary with Aunt Kate and have some ice cream if I'm good."

"Is that so? Well do you mind if I tag along? I could use something to eat, I worked right through lunch."

"Sure come on." Jessie grabbed one of her mom's hands and one of Kate's dragging them both towards the transporter.

* * *

"Jessie!" Casey called out, worry filtering into her voice. "Come on Jessie this isn't funny!" 

When the others had gone looking for Carrie and Marshall, Jessie had decided she wanted to go for a walk around the city instead and Casey had volunteered to take her. They'd wound up on one of the many balconies over looking the ocean and Casey had turned her back for a moment to take in the view only to turn back and find Jessie gone.

* * *

"You lost her!" Aria couldn't believe what Casey had just told her. When Casey had come rushing up to her, Aria – still leaning in the commissary doorway watching the guys still going at it – hadn't been expecting to hear that Casey had lost Jessie. 

"I didn't mean to!" Casey stated defensively. "I couldn't have had my back turned for more than a second, but when I turned back she was gone."

"Great now there's another one on the loose. You know I'm starting to think Dookie had a good idea with his homemade leash thing. Come on let's go find her."

At that moment the sound of someone clearing their throat got the girls' attention. Wiping around the girls came face to face with Kate, Jessie, and Valerie. Surprised by the sudden appearance of the adults the two girls jumped back slightly. Suddenly finding the floor under them very slippery both girls went down, sliding into the still wrestling Duke and Xander.

The addition of two new bodies to their little competition got Xander and Duke's attention. Looking around to find out what was going on they noticed for the first time the two adults standing in the door way. For a moment nobody said a word even the chanting Marshall and Carrie had gone quiet, all waiting to see what would happen next.

"Well I see you four had fun today." Valerie broke the deafening, silence a devious grin spreading across her face. "Don't you agree Kate?"

"Certainly." Kate agreed. "And seeing as how they spent their whole day having fun and we had to work, I thinks it's only fair they did a little work by cleaning this whole place up before dinner time while we sit back and have fun watching them."

At hearing this, the four older kids as one looked up at the clock on the wall – they only had two hours until people started coming in for dinner. In that moment Aria, Xander, Casey and Duke were almost certain they knew exactly what the passengers of the Titanic had felt like as the boat sank.

* * *

A/N: Brownie points if any of you can identify the small reference I made to one of my other stories 'The Prank War'. 


	4. Mission: Insanity

A/N: Sorry it's been a while since I updated, I was busy trying to help design and build the set for a play the drama kids at my school were doing, but now that's over so hopefully I can start writting again and updating more.

* * *

Ch. Summary: It was one of many unwritten rules on Atlantis, that if it was the last of any of the food it was to be left untouched until more could be provided - especially if it was junk food. Doing otherwise could lead to punishment by death, or at least a lot of horrific torture. 

Deep inside the city a silent figure crept down the long dark corridors keeping to the shadows. This silent figure was on a mission and nothing would deter it, it stealthily crept passed the many occupied rooms before reaching one of the transporters. This mission according to others was insane and even attempting it could be punishable by death, or at least a lot of horrific torture.

Quickly exiting the transporter the shadowy figure made its way through the lower level of the city and finally entered the corridor leading to its destination. Swiftly crossing the empty commisary and pushing open the door that lead to its target the figure found the room to be very dark, which suited the mission just fine. A small smile spread across the figure's face as it leaned into to claim its prize, inside the cookie jar.

Suddenly the light flicked on and the room and its occupant, who was holding the last cookie, were bathed in light. Looking over at the door the figure spotted it's eight year old little brother, Danik, wearing an accusing frown on his face.

"Hey Danik." Marshall greeted in what he hoped was a non-threatening voice, as he quickly put the cookie back in the jar trying to look innocent, which was virtually impossible.

"Hello Marshall." Danik replied to his twelve year old brother, a little too cheerfully for Marshall's liking. "Were you doing what I think you were doing?"

"I wasn't taking the last cookie." Marshall said in a rushed tone.

"Who said anything about cookies?" Danik had a triumphant look on his face as his eyes, with a mischievous glint in them, came to rest on the cookie jar. It wasn't every day Danik got one over on his older brother.

"Well I just figured that's what you meant…" Marshall stopped short letting a smirk form across his face. "Wait what are you doing down here so late?" Marshall turned the tables on his brother.

It was Danik's turn to try and look innocent, "Well…I was…I mean…I heard…no saw…" He broke off and looked down at the ground.

"That's what I thought. You were here to do the same thing as me." Seeing the nod from Danik, Marshall after a quick second of thinking took on a more business toned voice. "I have a proposition, what do you say we split the cookie in half? That way neither of us snitches on the other and neither of us can be punished for taking the last cookie."

Not liking that Marshall had yet again gotten one over on him, but seeing no other choice Danik nodded solemnly and took his half of the cookie when Marshall handed it to him.

"You do know that if any one finds out, especially if its Rodney, they're liable to throw us over the nearest balcony for this."

"Yes but how are they going to find out? Neither of us is gonna talk and as far as any one's concerned we were both sound asleep in bed all night. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to bed." With that Marshall, mouth full of cookie, walked out of the kitchen.

Danik stood still for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders, popped the cookie in his mouth and walked out of the kitchen as well.

No more than 10 minutes after the boys left Rodney walked into the kitchen and went straight to the cookie jar. Rodney had been so busy trying to fix the jumpers that Xander and Duke had managed to break he'd worked right through dinner and was now hoping to raid the cookie jar for a quick mid-night snack. Realizing the cookie jar was empty Rodney scowled and glared at the cookie jar as if it was to blame.

Rodney couldn't believe it somebody had actually had the nerve to take the last cookie, it was one of many unwritten rules on Atlantis, that if it was the last of any of the food it was to be left untouched until more could be provided - especially if it was junk food. To many - like Rodney - failing to do so was a crime worst than murder.

Turning on his heels Rodney marched out of the kitchen, but not before grabbing an apple out of the bowl on the counter - it wasn't the sweet delicious sugery snack he'd been hoping for but there weren't really many options at this time of night.

"Those two just had to come up with the brillant idea of trying to fit paintballing weaponry to the jumpers so they could have a mini dog fight." Rodney muttered to himself as he exited the kitchen making a mental note of possible suspects.

Normally for something like this the first people to come to mind would have been Duke and Xander, but since they'd been in the Jumper Bay with him the whole time and the cookie jar had been full at lunch, Rodney was forced to do some series thinking on this one. Whoever it was had better watch their back because when Rodney found them boy were they in for it.

* * *

A/N2: Hope you all liked that. I had a small plot bunny for this running around forever and just had to get it out. Sorry that it's short my muse just doesn't seem to want to coroperate with me to make it longer. 


	5. Dog House

Ch. Summary: Someone's in the dog house.

* * *

"So what did you and your daddy get up to today?" Valerie asked her five year old daughter Carrie, who was sitting at the table busy coloring in her new coloring book. 

Ever since two way contact had been made between Earth and Atlantis about six months ago a rotation schedule had been worked out so that every other month when supplies came from earth a small group of people from Atlantis would be sent back to earth for a little R&R as well as to answer any questions the people studying the information from Atlantis might've had. This time Carson, Valerie and Carrie had been a part of that group.

"I learned that ice cream comes from cows." Carrie stated not missing a beat with her coloring.

"Oh really and just where did you learn that?"

"From Daddy."

"From Daddy? When?"

"When you had to go back to the SGC for a little bit. The two of us went out to lunch."

"And you didn't think to wait for me?" At hearing this Carrie finally stopped her coloring and looked over at her mom.

"Daddy said you weren't allowed it was a just us afternoon." The little girl answered as if it was the most obvious reason in the world. "Besides Daddy says you have to watch your diet cause your getting fat and it's not good for you."

"Daddy said that?" Valerie couldn't believe what her daughter just told her. '_Someone's sleeping on the couch tonight' _She thought.

"Mommy you're not gonna tell Daddy are you?" Carrie got a worried look on her face.

Valerie almost laughed at the childish look on Carrie's face. "Is there a reason I shouldn't tell Daddy?"

"Because Daddy said if you know what I just told you, he'd be in the dog house and you wouldn't let him sleep in his bed. And if he can't sleep in his bed, he's gonna sleep in mine. So where am I gonna sleep, Mommy?" She asked worriedly.

"Don't worry I promise Daddy won't be sleeping in your bed." Valerie reassured Carrie as she picked her up and headed towards her daughter's room. "And speaking of bed I think it's time for you to go to bed."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

"Alright." Finished getting tucked in, Carrie spoke up again, "Mommy were's Daddy going to sleep?"

"That depends on the answers he gives me. Now go to sleep." Valerie kissed her daughter on the forehead and was about to turn the lights off when a thought came to her. "Carrie next time your Daddy tells you something like this, promise to tell me? I promise I won't tell your Dad."

"Promise." With that Valerie turned off the lights and left the room headed for her own.

* * *

"And just where have you been?" Valerie, putting her book on the nightstand, asked when Carson walked into the bedroom. 

"One of the scientist at the SGC had a question about one of the new medicines we brought back that I had to go deal with." Carson replied as he disappeared into the bathroom for a moment. "You wouldn't believe this guy, I mean I thought Rodney was bad when it came to rambling, but this guy just kept going on and on about how brave as well as crazy he thought we all were for willingly leaving earth to go to another galaxy."

"Well I certainly know that you're probably the bravest man out of everyone." Valerie got off the bed and went to lean in the bathroom doorway.

"How do you figure that?" Carson was getting a bit weary. He couldn't quite identify the look on his wife's face, but he did know it most likely wasn't good.

"Because I have it on good authority that you actually had the never to tell our daughter that I was fat." Valerie paused a moment glaring at her husband. "Let me make it perfectly clear to you Carson Beckett, I am _not_ fat nor have I _ever_ been fat. Just because I have _your_ child growing inside me does not make me fat. Got it Mister?"

"I...I...I." Carson stuttered a second trying to think of the right thing to calm his angry wife. "I never said you were fat. Carrie must have misunderstood me, she is only five after all." That of course didn't seem to calm Valerie down at all. "I said that you were getting bigger, there's a difference."

"Oh please do enlighten me."

"Well you see if I'd said fat, that would have meant over weight, which you're not." Carson hurriedly assured his wife. "But by saying bigger I meant that you had her little brother or sister growing in you." Carson put on an innocently charming smile when he was finished with his explanation.

"Don't even try using your charm on me buddy." Valerie ordered as she walked back over to the bed. "You can forget about sleeping in bed, it's the couch for you." With that she threw one of the pillows off the bed at Carson. "And don't you even think about waking Carrie up."

"Please don't be mad. I was just trying to think about your health, I'm a doctor it's what I do. I just wanted to keep you safe."

"Really? How exactly?"

"Well what if the food had, had something in it that would have been bad for you and/or the baby. Remember it's been a while since we've had earth food, we've gotten so accustomed to food from the Pegasus Galaxy that there's no telling how we'd react to eating earth food again."

"So you were trying to play hero and make sure the food was safe?" Valerie running a hand along the slight bulge of her stomach turned back towards Carson. "You know you can be a real pain in the ass at times." A small grin broke out on Valerie's face.

"Aye an adorably cute and lovable pain in the ass who you married willingly." Carson allowed a tiny smirk to form when he saw his wife's anger replaced with humor. "So does this mean I can sleep in bed now?"

"Not a chance. But you can tell me what the whole 'ice cream comes from cows' thing was all about."

"Not a chance. A man's gotta have some secrets." Carson quickly captured Valerie's lips in a loving kiss then hurriedly ducked out the door before she could think to throw the other pillow at him.


	6. Lullaby

A/N: I know, I know I should be working on my sequel to InLaws, but this idea hit me and wouldn't go away so I figured I'd write this up real quick.

* * *

Ch Summary: Teyla witnesses a moment between Aiden and Marshall. 

Waking with a start Teyla sat upright in bed and looked over at the clock. Four a.m. At first she wasn't quite sure why she had woken up then she realized how strangely quiet the quarters were. Marshall wasn't crying. Her new born son always cried at that this time of night. He had for the past week. A chill ran through her bones. What if something was wrong? What if the Wraith had found away to go undetected?

Working herself into a panic, Teyla reached over to wake up her sleeping husband only to find that he, too, was gone. Now she was really scared. Aiden never left the bed without letting her know where he was going. First, her baby didn't cry, and now her husband was gone. What was going on?

As fear crept into her stomach, Teyla crawled out of bed and tiptoed over to the nursery door. She poised herself ready to face anything that she might need to. Reaching the door, Teyla stopped in surprise. The sound of a soft male voice chattering away floated in from the other side. She would know Aiden's voice from anywhere, and a feeling of relief swept over her.

Being as quiet as she could, Teyla gently cracked opened the door and peeked inside. She smiled at the angelic sight that greeted her. There sat Aiden in the rocking chair Halling had made, feeding Marshall and calmly talking to him. Both Aiden and Teyla had agreed that naming their son after Colonel Sumner would be a fitting way to remember and honor the man. Even though Teyla hadn't really known the colonel she believed Aiden – who had worked with the man at the SGC for a few years – when he said Sumner hadn't really been all that bad of a guy once you got to know him and he you.

"That's my boy. You're a good eater. You get that from me, you know." Aiden cooed proudly as Marshall happily drank the milk. He continued as if the kid had answered him. "You know, there's a lot you and I have in common. We're both quiet thinkers. We only talk when we need to." He lovingly stroked his son's dark hair. "You look like your mom, though, and I'm very thankful for that. You've got her hair and eyes, but I think you've got my nose." He continued to prattle on until all of the liquid in the bottle was gone.

Aiden set the bottle down on the table beside of him when the boy was finished. Aiden stood up, preparing to take him back to bed, of course Marshall was having none of that and the minute Aiden moved, Marshall started crying.

Teyla put her hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle. Aiden stood frozen in the room with the crying baby in his arms and a panicked look on his face. For a moment, it seemed like he didn't quite know what to do.

"Shhh, it's okay. I'm just putting you back to bed. Quiet. You'll wake your mother, and we certainly don't want that." Aiden hushed as he hugged his son. He seemed to be searching for a way to calm Marshall when his eyes lit up with an idea. Slowly, he began to rock Marshall gently, singing a song called 'With Arms Wide Open', Teyla remembered the song from one of the CDs Aiden had played for her when he'd been teaching her about earth music; she'd always liked that song.

Teyla's breath caught in her throat. Here was her husband, a trained soldier, standing in the middle of the room singing to his son. It was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen. Aiden didn't sing very loudly, but the song did carry across the room.

He had gotten halfway through the tune when he realized that his son was no longer crying. Instead, the infant was fast asleep with his head on Aiden's shoulder. Smiling, Aiden slowly walked back over to the crib and gently laid the sleeping baby in it. Carefully covering Marshall with his baby blanket Aiden turned to go back to his own bedroom. He stopped when he saw a grinning, slightly teary eyed Teyla standing in the doorway.

"That was a lovely." Teyla whispered, the smile still plastered on her face.

Aiden shrugged. "Thanks."

"Would you be up for singing another one?" Teyla teased.

Aiden chuckled. "No, I think that was my lullaby for the evening."

"That's a shame. I might need a lullaby too." Teyla wrapped her arms around Aiden, giving him a nice, long kiss. "You know, it's so quiet. I wish this moment could last forever."

"Me, too." Aiden kissed her again. Without another word, he led her into their bedroom and quietly closed the door.


	7. Chapter 7

Due to recent developments I will no longer be posting my stories to this site.

I have had several people review the previous chapter 7 I posted earlier and accuse me of plagerizing a chapter from jennamajig's story 'Shoelaces', which I assure everyone was not the case. I understand how people can think I may have stolen from jennamajig's story but I assure everyone that was not the case, before today I have never read the story 'Shoelaces'. Yes I was shocked at how very, very much a like they were but I promise I did not plagerize, I wrote my chapter using elements that happened from when I broke my arm and from when my cousin broke his arm. I admit it is quite freaky at how close the two are.

Plagerizing is one of the worst things that can happen to a writer and I understand how others may feel thinking that I plagerized, I would be angry as well if someone did that to me.

Since jennamajig had the decency (un-like everyone else) to E-mail me directly about the issue instead of sending it as a review and kindly ask that I remove the chapter I have done so out of respect for a fellow writer.

If that were the only issue I would have no problem continuing to post here, but since everyone else felt the need to leave their accusations in reviews instead of E-mailing me directly I feel that I can no longer in good faith continue posting my stories here. I understand people may have been upset but the (in my opinion any way) better way of handling it would have been to ask me directly instead of leaving a review that others may read and then decide they don't want to read the whole story because of a review for one chapter.

So as I said before I feel that I can no longer in good faith continue posting my stories here. I say this because I fear that from now on those who reviewed before will hound any of my future work making similar accusations if I even so much as use a similar idea that somebody else has. Now that may not be true but I am unwilling to take the chance, because several things that were said hurt me deeply and I don't want to go through this again. Some of you may not believe any of what I have said and as much as that hurts me I KNOW I'M TELLING THE TRUTH. If you don't believe me that's your problem, not mine, so deal with it.

I apologize to those readers of you out there that enjoyed reading my stories and were looking forward to reading more, but because of the way I have been treated no more of my work will be posted on this site.


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